I have been to this driving school but was very frustrated. The owner, driving instructor, is very unprofessional. He is always on his phone and pay very little attention to the student. I only got 15 percent attention during lessons. He is conducting his office inside the car during driving lessons. During lessons he is answering phone calls negotiating driving packages, scheduling other students, going through some papers, having his lunch, running some errands (purchasing stuff from an auto shop), and other distractive behaviour. He is not acting like an instructor but merely a companion. He makes last minute instructions when turning because he is distracted talking with someone while giving instructions in-between. He is not looking at the situation of the road when giving instructions. When I don't hear any instruction from him I just proceed straight but he will take control of the steering wheel making sudden right turn which I find very dangerous. It did not happen just once. It even happened in the freeway. Once he made me move to the right lane on an unbroken line in the freeway. I refused but he grabbed the steering wheel with his left hand while his right hand was holding a cell phone talking to another person. Prior to that, at the beginning of the lesson, I was adjusting the car mirror. He kept telling me to start driving. He was still on the phone and not paying attention to what I was doing. He was motioning me to go with his frustrated tone/ facial expression. I went. Because my mirrors were not properly adjusted I had difficulty merging, and making left and right lane changes because I could not judge the distance and angle of the car behind me. I had to turn my head all the way back. It was nerve-wrecking. Two days after my second driving lesson I decided to withdraw my package and went to his office to negotiate for a refund. His secretary is there but could not make any decisions and told me to call him. I was able to reach him over the phone. When I told him that I want to cancel and get some refund since I paid $650 cash for a 7-hour package he told me that he will just go to my house later that day or the following day. I sent text messages and called him to follow up. I also left voicemail but he never went back to text or call to acknowledge my concern.
I have a feeling that he blocked my number upon my request to cancel and refund. He usually picks up or calls back when I call to ask about pricing or scheduling a lesson. After hearing that I want some refund all calls I make to him automatically goes to voicemail.
My piece of advice to anyone looking for a driving school is to do a lot of research before enrolling especially if you are a novice driver. Ask past students about the conduct of their driving instructor. If you have to pay and is forced to take a package, do not pay in full. Pay in instalments so you won't have a hard time in case you're not happy with your driving instructor. For now, I will give him some time to call me but if he continues to ignore me I will ask MTO how I should deal with my situation. read more
